WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's decision to appeal a court order lifting age limits on purchasers of the morning-after pill set off a storm of criticism from reproductive rights groups, who denounced it as politically motivated and a step backward for women's health.

"We are profoundly disappointed. This appeal takes away the promise of all women having timely access to emergency contraception," Susannah Baruch, Interim President & CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, said in a statement late Wednesday.

"It is especially troubling in light of the Food and Drug Administration's move yesterday to continue age restrictions and ID requirements, despite a court order to make emergency contraception accessible for women of all ages. Both announcements, particularly in tandem, highlight the administration's corner-cutting on women's health," Baruch said. "It's a sad day for women's health when politics prevails."

The FDA on Tuesday had lowered the age at which people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 – younger than the current limit of 17 – and decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near the condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters. It appeared to be a stab at compromise that just made both sides angrier.

After the appeal was announced late Wednesday, Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said, "The prevention of unwanted pregnancy, particularly in adolescents, should not be obstructed by politicians." She called it a "step backwards for women's health."

Last week, O'Neill noted, President Barack Obama was applauded when he addressed members of Planned Parenthood and spoke of the organization's "core principle" that women should be allowed to make their own decisions about their health.

4. Wait, what?? They're APPEALING this???

9. Yes. Didn't you expect that, as soon as you heard the FDA was upholding an age-restriction,

even if it's been lowered to 15? As long as there's a restriction of some sort, pharmacies have an excuse to either not stock Plan B ("too much work") or shelve it out of sight where the person working the pharmacy counter has de facto control over whether or not they're "out" of Plan B when someone asks.

8. Well Then... I Guess It's A Good Thing 12 Year Olds Never Get Pregnant...

10. Long term health effects on girls as young as 12?

There is literally no good outcome in that situation. If the girl, a child really, carries the baby to term, the long term effects are possibly everything from destroying her chances of ever having a baby again, to severe birth defects for the child because the girl is not physically ready, no matter what her biological clock says, to carry a baby. Abortion? That would be worse than the side effects from plan B, if any.

Nuts. This was an asinine move from our President. There is only one reason, and it doesn't have anything to do with health concerns. It is that we need to fight those damned Rethugs on Abortion, and we as a party can't get people to donate if we've solved the problems.

11. The morning after pill is widely used in Europe. In France,it's

available to girls by going to the school nurse,free of cost. I guarantee it's health risks are far less than teenage pregnancy. Not offering it to all ages is inexplicable for this administration. He's not running for reelection, his admin has nothing to gain by fighting this ruling. Nothing.

22. Today's NY Times has a rather different take on this . . .

In 2011, the secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius, overruled the Food and Drug Administration, which had decided, based on scientific evidence, that the pills would be safe and appropriate “for all females of child-bearing potential.” Ms. Sebelius arbitrarily determined that only women 17 and older should have access to the drug.

Then, last month, citing the political nature of Ms. Sebelius’s intervention and finding no “coherent justification” for it, Judge Edward Korman of United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ordered the F.D.A. to make emergency contraceptives available over the counter to all women, with no age restrictions.

< . . . >

The administration’s continued stubbornness may please some conservative groups critical of the president. But it will hurt girls and women and is bound to undermine Mr. Obama’s credibility when he calls for principled, evidence-based policy-making on other issues, like global warming.

The Justice Department’s legal argument, moreover, is incoherent. In court documents, it claims that Judge Korman’s order improperly interferes with the F.D.A.’s “scientific judgments” pertaining to the drug approval process. But it was Ms. Sebelius’s interference with science that sparked Judge Korman’s ruling in the first place.

23. It was a week ago that we cheered the President for speaking at Planned Parenthood

Now, he's very comfortable with the decision to limit a womans right to timely medical treatment, and we aren't screaming at him about it. Here is how I know we've put party over principal. If it had been John Ashcroft as the Attorney General who had announced the appeal, we would have been tearing up sidewalks. But since it's one of ours, well we are cool with it.